Fallout
Fallout is a series of post-apocalyptic role-playing video games created by Interplay Entertainment. Although the series is set during the 22nd and 23rd centuries, its retrofuturistic setting and artwork are influenced by the post-war culture of 1950s America, and its combination of hope for the promises of technology and lurking fear of nuclear annihilation. A forerunner for Fallout is Wasteland, a 1988 video game of which the Fallout series is regarded to be a spiritual successor. Although the game worlds are different, the background story, inhabitants, locations, and characters draw many parallels. The first two titles in the series (Fallout and Fallout 2) were developed by Black Isle Studios. Micro Forté and 14 Degrees East's 2001 Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel is a tactical role-playing game. In 2004, Interplay closed Black Isle Studios, and continued to produce an action game with RPG elements for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel without Black Isle Studios. A third entry in the main series, Fallout 3, was released in 2008 by Bethesda Softworks. The latest role-playing installment of the series, Fallout: New Vegas, came out in 2010 and was developed by Obsidian Entertainment with many former Black Isle employees who created Fallout and Fallout 2. Bethesda Softworks now owns the rights to produce all Fallout games. Soon after acquiring the rights to the IP, Bethesda licensed the rights to make a massively multiplayer online role-playing game version of Fallout to Interplay. This led to a lengthy legal dispute between Bethesda Softworks and Interplay, with Bethesda claiming Interplay had not met the terms and conditions of the licensing contract. The case was decided in favor of Bethesda. The MMORPG only ever got to the beta stage under Interplay, and it is not currently known whether or not Bethesda plans to develop a Fallout MMO. Features SPECIAL SPECIAL is a character creation and statistics system developed specifically for the Fallout series. SPECIAL is an acronym, representing the seven attributes used to define Fallout characters: 'S'trength, 'P'erception, 'E'ndurance, 'C'harisma, 'I'ntelligence, 'A'gility and 'L'uck. SPECIAL is heavily based on GURPS, which was originally intended to be the character system used in the game. The SPECIAL system involves the following sets of key features: *Attributes (listed above) represent a character's core, inborn abilities. Attributes stay largely constant throughout the game, though they can be temporarily affected by drugs, altered indefinitely by conditions such as the wearing of Power Armor, the presence of certain NPCs or eye damage received in a critical hit, or permanently changed at certain points in the game, through use of certain items. *Skills represent a character's chance of successfully performing a group of specific tasks (such as firing a gun, or picking a lock). They are represented as percentages, though these percentages can extend well beyond the expected maximum of 100%, at increased cost for skills over 100%. The SPECIAL stats continually add bonuses to skills. This is done passively, i.e. if the SPECIAL stats change, the bonuses are automatically and instantly adjusted. Skill Points that are earned each time the character levels up can be used to raise skill percentage. At character creation, the player also selects three Tag Skills — Skills which can be increased at multiples of the normal rate, starting at one skill point per 2% skill at under 101% skill. The SPECIAL system has thus far been used in the role-playing video game Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel. A heavily modified version of the system was used for Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout: Warfare, a tabletop battle game available on the Fallout Tactics bonus CD. Aside from Fallout games, modified versions of SPECIAL were also used in Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader (also referred to as Fallout Fantasy early in production), a fantasy role-playing video game that involved spirits and magic in addition to the traditional SPECIAL features, as well as the cancelled project Black Isle's Torn. The PIP-Boy and Vault Boy The PIP-Boy (Personal Information Processor-Boy) is an iconic wrist-computer given to the player early in Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas which serves various roles in quest, inventory, and battle management, as well as presenting player statistics. The model present in Fallout and Fallout 2 is identified as a PIP-Boy 2000, and both games feature the very same unit, used first by the Vault Dweller and later inherited by the Chosen One. Fallout Tactics contains a modified version of the 2000 model, called PIP-Boy 2000BE, while Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas uses a PIP-Boy 3000. The Vault Boy character is Vault-Tec's mascot, and is a frequently recurring element in Vault-Tec-related items in the world. This includes the PIP-Boy, where Vault Boy illustrates all of the character statistics and selectable attributes. From Bethesda's Fallout 3 onward Vault Boy models all of the clothing and weaponry as well. External Links *Official Website *[http://www.dmoz.org/Games/Video_Games/Roleplaying/F/Fallout_Series/ Fallout series] on the Open Directory Project *The Vault, the Fallout wiki *[https://web.archive.org/web/19970415010914/http://www.interplay.com/fallout/ Fallout] at the Wayback Machine (archived April 15, 1997) *[https://web.archive.org/web/19980710153639/http://interplay.com/fallout2/ Fallout 2] at the Wayback Machine (archived July 10, 1998) Navigation Category:Games Category:Fallout Category:Rated M Games Category:Role-Playing